Tragedy of the seas in RI archipelago

Tragedy of the seas in RI archipelago

By Roger Michael Johnson and Daniel Rosyid

This is the second of two articles on fisheries.

SURABAYA (JP): An artisanal fishery is characterized by much
greater importance being placed on labor rather than on capital,
by small, flexible and locally significant operations, and by
having a very low impact on the environment.

Boats belong to owner-operators and crew are rewarded with a
share of the catch.

The traditional fishing methods employed here are quite
compatible with a long-term and sustainable fishery and are not
in conflict with marine preservation or ecotourism interests.

Whatever one calls them they consistently have been held in
low regard by governments, which regard them as traditional and
therefore backward and an obstacle to fishery development. That
they have endured and in many cases flourished proves this
attitude is wrong.

For Indonesia, artisanal fishing communities are a
considerable resource and may offer the only realistic chance of
avoiding multiple disasters.

Large capital is not needed; labor saving technological
solutions, and high labor-low capital solutions are very viable.
Such fisheries can often operate in a cooperative fishing model,
using smaller vessels to great effect.

In our survey of artisanal fishing vessels and operations, the
people were highly skilled and motivated, but often, lack of
information and poverty limited their ability to make correct
technological choices.

An example is the decision to install engines in preference to
sail is almost universally poor. These fishermen were encouraged
to reject sail as being "old fashioned" at a time when both fuel
and machinery were at artificially reduced prices. It is not
inconceivable that diesel fuel might reach Rp 2000 per liter in a
relatively short period.

For a poor fisherman, sail still makes economic sense. Another
consequence of the installation of engines is that the working
life of wooden boats has been drastically reduced to around 10 to
15 years from well over 30 years.

Neither steel, aluminum or fibre glass are viable alternative
materials and the rapidly depleting forest resources make it
essential to develop this longer working life.

Those materials are incompatible with the existing physical
infrastructures available at the coastal communities. They are
also culturally incompatible. Fibre glass requires sufficient
level of analytical capability and also much dependant upon
imported materials.

Finally a considerable post-industrial revolution in micro
electronics is underway. Satellite communications, global
positioning and utilizing the Internet for fish sales all have
the prospect to considerably empower artisanal fishermen, and are
quite compatible with their more "primitive" technology.

The current project at the technology institute, the ITS in
Surabaya, aims to develop a range of improved vessels with the
capability of exploiting both coastal fisheries and new grounds
out to the 200 nautical miles.

The project draws on both local traditional practices and
international experience and the requirement is for vessels which
will have a long working life, are safe to operate and economical
to run. The project thus advocates the use of low resistance
hulls with small engine power and the reintroduction of sail.

The problem remains how to get such vessels into the hands of
the individual fishermen most likely to operate them effectively
and who are in most need of support.

Financial support on a non-capitalist basis is required, for
instance through an operation under the Muslim principles of
syari'ah banking. Or simply by grants and loans, or by the
building and leasing of improved vessels.

Given problems with misappropriation of funds here, utmost
care should be taken to ensure the poor fisherman gets a little
more security, instead of enhancing the wealth of the already
wealthy entrepreneur or official!

The announcement by President Abdurrahman Wahid, that he
wanted to reverse the centuries of neglect of the archipelago's
seas, was very heartening.

The English scientist Huxley wrote in the 19th Century that
fishery controls were pointless because the seas were so prolific
that it was inconceivable that man could deplete them.

Recently an East Java fisheries officer told us that all the
fishermen in his port were well-off, that all talk of
conservation was nonsense and if they did fish their waters out
they would simply go to Sulawesi where there were plenty of fish.

Both Huxley and this officer were very, very wrong. Hopefully
the understanding of just how wrong they were will not be too
late ...

Roger Michael Johnson MA is a marine environmental
anthropologist with the department of anthropology and human
ecology, University of Kent at Canterbury, United Kingdom, and a
visiting scholar at the marine technology postgraduate program of
the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember Surabaya. Dr Daniel
Rosyid is a marine technologist and the institute's vice rector
for cooperation. (pr_4_its@its.ac.id)